Following last week’s epic blizzard across the US east coast, only a few people showed up to work on the floor of the nation’s Senate–and all of them were women.
“As we convene this morning, you look around the chamber, the presiding officer is female. All of our parliamentarians are female. Our floor managers are female. All of our pages are female,” Alaska Republican senator Lisa Murkowski said yesterday (Jan. 26). She added this was a mere coincidence, but that when she looked around she noticed that “something is genuinely different—and something is genuinely fabulous.”
“Perhaps it speaks to the hardiness of women that put on your boots and put your hat on and get out and slog through the mess that’s out there.”
The Senate gathered for a short session to take up Murkowski’s “Energy Policy Modernization Act.”
Notably, the senators that did show up–Murkowski and Republican Susan Collins of Maine–are both from states that are used to the snowy weather.
The snowstorm, named Jonas, hit Washington, DC on Friday, Jan. 22. It appears that the two women both stayed in Washington DC during the storm rather than going home for the weekend.
“I don’t know about you all, but I spent a good portion of my weekend shoveling,” Murkowski said. “I feel stronger today, but I’m ready to get back to work where it’s a little less rigorous.”